There are common mistakes that course creators make.
Especially if you’ve never taught before, there is a learning curve to overcome.
Teaching online courses is an excellent way to help your audience and benefit your marketing at the same time.
Here are some common mistakes first-time teachers make and how you can avoid them.
Although you might be teaching from home in your pajamas, you don’t want it to look this way.
Presentation is essential to your image as a professional educator and to the student experience.
When teaching your online course, dress and present yourself just as you would if you were teaching in a real classroom.
When your students are signing in and you’re just about to get your well-planned course started, the last thing you want deal with is technical difficulties.
Video platforms are easy to use but still require a bit of practice.
Take the video software you’re using for a test drive before your course begins, and make sure you know how to use all the features you might need.
Your online course shouldn’t be a one-sided lecture or presentation.
Your students need to be actively engaged in order to learn and feel that their time was well spent.
Give your students plenty to do, including activities, questions, discussions, and homework.
Your students should be doing the work with you as the facilitator.
When students are actively engaged and feel part of the course, they’re more likely to complete the course and achieve their goals.
Some students will inevitably be more vocal than others.
You’ll have some quiet students who don’t take as much initiative to participate. These individuals won’t get as much out of the course unless you intervene.
Your job as the facilitator is to make sure everyone has a chance to participate, which means managing those who dominate and amplifying those who are more passive.
How do you know if your students are learning?
They may or may not take the initiative to ask questions when they’re not sure.
Some may have questions but not want to interrupt the flow of the session, and so they’ll stay silent.
You need to offer your students established question time during each session.
Use this time to clarify that they are understanding the important points and encourage them to ask questions.
One of the biggest challenges new teachers face is time management.
No matter how well you plan and set time for each part of your course, things can easily go off schedule.
You may wrap up the course with time left over or find that it’s time to stop and you haven’t covered everything.
Create a reasonable schedule and stick to it.
If you find that you’ve covered everything, adjust the course accordingly.
Plan some backup activities in case you finish early.
When you’re just getting started, make sure you keep the focus on your students and their learning.
If you keep their interests in the forefront of your mind, you can guarantee that your course will offer value to them.
Would you like to try teaching online courses to help you reach your business goals?
Check out my program, The Ultimate Online Course Creator Bundle , which teaches you the A to Z of teaching a successful online course that improves student success rates and helps you achieve your business goals.
You can find out more details here.
leave a comment